RISMedia's Real Estate Magazine

JUL 2018

Real Estate magazine is the industry's leading source for real estate news and information since 1980. Published monthly by RISMedia, Real Estate magazine offers timely and relevant real estate news to the industry's top brokers and agents.

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RISMedia's REAL ESTATE July 2018 31
HE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT CEO TO HEAD THE
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (NAR)
WAS AN INTENSE PROCESS. When it came down to the final few
candidates, Bob Goldberg knew he had his work cut out for him, having
served with NAR for 22 years. Goldberg also knew he was the change
agent needed, and was brimming with cutting-edge ideas to quickly steer
NAR and the industry into the future.
To prove that he was exactly the right person for this mission, in his final
presentation to the search committee, which included NAR 2018 Presi-
dent Elizabeth Mendenhall, Goldberg presented a long list of changes
he would enact should he become CEO—changes that presented huge
logistical hurdles and even larger cultural ones.
"I looked at it like this," says Goldberg. "As the industry changes, I think
the members' association has to move faster than those changes. We
have to be proactive instead of reactive. If you get mired in doing things
the way you've done them in the past, even if it has been successful, then
you're destined to be behind the curve of change."
Goldberg outshone the competition, landed the CEO job and took the
helm on August 1, 2017. With little time to celebrate, the list of changes
he had proposed was handed back to him with a question: "How soon
can we get these done?"
It was, perhaps, in that moment that the new NAR was born—not in
a series of changes outlined by Goldberg, but in a meeting of the minds
around a unified goal: to make NAR a more nimble, member-centric, and
future-focused organization.
As Mendenhall describes it, "Bob has brought a culture of 'yes' to the
association. He says, 'Let's see if we can do it before we say no.' That at-
titude gets you endless possibilities because any idea can be explored."
According to Goldberg, he's simply giving the membership what they
deserve. "Our members have an expectation of their national association,
and their state and local associations," he explains. "In order to better
serve them, we need to be progressive, and we need to make sure the
member is first in every decision we make."
UNITING FOR MEMBERS
While his appointment to CEO made headlines, the real story at NAR lies
in the unique strength of the partnership between Goldberg and the lead-
ership team, headed by Mendenhall and including 2018 President-Elect
John Smaby; 2018 First Vice President Vince Malta; 2018 Treasurer Tom
by Maria Patterson
Working Together
to Forge a New NAR
T